


he's not afraid

by jongleur



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Humor, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-09
Updated: 2013-09-09
Packaged: 2017-12-26 02:02:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/960274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jongleur/pseuds/jongleur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>at their school, louis is known as the player, harry is known as the fearless wild one. when they meet at a party, louis is instantly drawn to harry and will do anything to get him to be his boyfriend. there is a problem: harry is only afraid of one thing…love. now the two boys will teach each other how to not be afraid.</p><p>based on one direction’s song, she’s not afraid.</p>
            </blockquote>





	he's not afraid

**Author's Note:**

> after two months this is finally the one shot i promised.  
> and surprise, i actually really like this one!  
> i guess i have a thing for pining louis.  
> disclaimer: i do not own one direction, if i did they would wear no clothes.  
> enjoy!

+

 

Louis looked at himself in the mirror.

His hair was perfectly quiffed, his smile was radiant, and his bum looked _fantastic_ in those tight jeans.

He was _so_ getting some that night.

“Yeah, you look right fit, Lou, now can we please go?” Zayn scoffed as he himself ran a finger through his even more styled quiff.

“Do you reckon I’ll go home with somebody tonight?” Louis asked as both boys made their way towards the living room of their shared flat, where Liam was waiting for them.

Zayn rolled his eyes. “You always get laid, mate.”

“I know, I just wanted to hear it from you.” Louis smiled brightly.

“You know, I’ve been waiting here for like half an hour. What took you guys so long?” Liam reproached as Louis and Zayn walked towards him.

He stood up and the two other boys followed him.

“Well, dear Liam, we can’t all look presentable just wearing a t-shirt and running a hand through our hair.” mocked Zayn while Louis snickered.

“Whatever. Just get in the car.”

“I call shot-gun!” yelled Louis as he made his way towards the front seat, but Zayn beat him to it.

“No way, you’re in the back loser.”

“Tosser.” Louis glared at Zayn. Zayn shrugged and Louis sometimes didn’t know why he was friend with such jerks. Well, with _Zayn_.

“Stop fighting, remember we’re going to a party so behave yourself.” Liam added as he started the car.

“Yes, mum.” Zayn and Louis said in unison, a smile tugging at Louis’ lips.

“By the way, _whose_ party are we going?”

Zayn threw his head back as he laughed, “Honestly, you don’t even know whose party it is?”

“Hey, I’m always up for a party, don’t blame me.”

Liam snorted, “It’s Niall Horan’s, mate.”

“Who is Niall Horan?”

“How can you _not_ know Niall? He’s like really loud…? Irish? No?”

“Hmm, it rings a bell, but I’m not sure. Is he in our grade?”

“No, he’s in a year below.”

“Oh, well, I guess I’ll meet him tonight.”

Liam hummed and the three boys drove towards their destination. Louis looked through the window with a smile. Something about dancing and socializing with people always made him feel light, happy. Of course it also helped that most times he found himself a nice looking bloke and got _at least_ , a blowjob. Sometimes he could be a shameless bastard.

He sat straight and stared at his two best friends for a moment. Zayn could probably get even more action than Louis himself if he weren’t so lazy around people; he usually just went to get himself wasted.

And Liam. Louis sighed. Liam was the worst of the three. He was incredibly good looking (abs, damn it) and was the nicest person Louis had ever met, he could easily get it, except— except he was waiting for a certain person to realize they were meant to be. Or some shit like that.

Sometimes Zayn could be such an oblivious idiot.

Louis didn’t understand Liam, like, how could he want to wait for Zayn? Why stick with one person? It didn’t make sense to him. His advice to his friend had always been the same: get as many blokes and birds as he could and _then_ , when he’d be old enough and needed naps, he could find himself a nice husband (preferably Zayn) and have seven kids. At least that was his plan. Although instead of Zayn he liked to think he’d marry David Beckham or Jude Law (wife and girlfriend be damned).

He sighed once again and shook his head towards his friends. This of course went unnoticed by both of them, so he scoffed.

The car stopped suddenly, “Here we are then.”

“That was only couple blocks then.”

“Yeah.”

“Did Niall give you the—”

Louis rolled his eyes, “Ok, if you want to stay here and talk be my guest, I’ll be going now.” He got out of the car after secretly nudging Liam’s shoulder. Liam gave him a puppy glare.

Louis laughed but made his way towards the house. It was small, obviously a uni’s student, which would make it Greg Horan’s, Niall’s older brother, but that was as far as he could gather from Zayn’s and Liam’s conversation on their way here.

They party was already in full motion, the loud thumping of the music could be heard from where Louis stood. His friends soon were by his side and Louis said, “Alright! Let’s go in!”

Half an hour since they got there and Louis and Zayn were already half drunk, a nice warm buzz flowing through their bodies. Liam was amicably talking to Danielle, a pretty girl, captain of the dancing squad, while sipping a coke.

“Hm, can’t believe he’s drinking coke at a party.” Louis laughed into Zayn’s shoulder.

Zayn hummed distractedly as he kept staring at his best friend and the dancer.

Louis raised his eyebrows.

“Well, I think I’m off to the dance floor, but you should go and keep Liam company. You don’t want him to embarrass himself, do you?”

“He’s doing just fine.” mumbled Zayn as he took another gulp of his beer.

Louis wanted to hit him. “No, he’s not. Now go, you arse.”

Zayn reluctantly finished his drink and made his slowly but surely way towards Liam. Louis smiled to himself, he was such a brilliant friend.

He then decided that dancing would be a great idea. Especially with that new Britney song that was playing.

He danced his way towards the not-so-much-dancefloor-but-more-like-a-bunch-of-people-dancing-their-drunken-asses-off. The party was good.

Louis went to the very middle of the crowd, where he flew his arms erratically and started jumping up and down as he loudly sang the chorus.

He danced three more songs until he grew a bit tired, but before he could make his way towards his friends, that were now alone without the company of Danielle, he saw a tall blob of curls jumping even quicker than he had been just moments prior.

He got closer towards the blob to get a closer look and Louis’ heart dropped to the floor and rolled over and attached itself to the stranger.

He was probably the most beautiful _being_ he had ever seen. The boy was tall, certainly taller than Louis, maybe even Liam, his curls were wild and they flew everywhere, in all directions. His smile was wide as he laughed with his friend, both boys jumping out of beat to the song. And his eyes were green. _Green_. Louis rubbed his eyes.

It took him less than a second to run to Zayn and Liam.

“Zayn! Liam!” he hissed with wide eyes at his friends.

Liam looked horrified, “Is something wrong, Louis?”

“Yeah, my life!”

“ _What?”_

Zayn raised his eyebrows, “I think someone is being over dramatic. What’s going on, Lou?”

“I just saw the most beautiful boy ever.”

Liam visibly relaxed. “Oh. I thought it was a life-or-death matter, Lou.”

“But, Liam, _it is_! You need to tell me who this boy is!” Louis shook his friend’s arm.

 _Oh, boy,_ thought Liam and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He was a nice person.

“Who?”

“That one over there!” he pointed across the room where they curly haired boy now stood with his friend near the drinks, obviously now tired from dancing.

“ _What? You like Niall?”_

“Wait, what? You think the most beautiful boy ever is _Niall Horan_?” Zayn interrupted with a wild look on his face.

“ _That’s_ Niall Horan? And you never thought to introduce us?” Louis looked scandalized.

“Well, he didn’t seem like your type, Lou.” Liam scrunched his eyebrows.

“What the bloody hell, Li? He’s _exactly_ my type! Gorgeous!”

“Well then, problem solved.” Zayn smirked as he left his new beer on a nearby table and then strutted towards Niall. Louis looked back at Liam with a scared face, but his friend only shrugged and mouthed ‘go for it’. Louis breathed deeply and followed Zayn, who was already a few paces ahead of him.

Soon, they were in front of the two boys and Louis would tell you he wasn’t sweating, but he was.

“Hey, mate, Niall!”  Zayn enthusiastically said as he grabbed Curly’s _friend’s_ shoulder.

What.

“Oh, hey, Zayn!” A blond boy with a giant grin turned around and hugged Zayn.

Um.

“Niall, look! This is my mate Louis, _he likes you_!” Zayn smirked at Louis.

That bastard.

Niall looked wide eyed at Louis and before he could reply, Louis yelled, “Zayn, you idiot, it wasn’t him I was talking about!”

Zayn looked confused, Louis went red and Niall snorted.

“Well, nice to meet you too, Louis.” he replied trying not to laugh as he pinched Curly’s arm.

“ _Ohh_. Well.”

Zayn and Niall blurted out in laughter at the same time.

“I’m too drunk for this.” Zayn wiped a tear from his eye.

“I think—” Niall hiccupped, “that we need more beer. C’mon, Zayn.” he tugged at Zayn with a giggle, leaving Louis alone with Curly.

What had happened to him? He was usually _so_ smooth.

He looked up to see Curly. Ok, yeah, he could do this, he was Louis Tomlinson.

“Hi, I’m Louis.” He said, and internally grimaced as he saw Curly’s amusement on his face.

“Yeah, I know. I’m Harry Styles.”

“Harry.” he repeated the name. It was wonderful.

“Yup.” Harry popped the _p_. It was obvious he was barely containing his laughter.

“So, how do you know Niall, then?” Louis tried.

“Um, well, he’s my best mate, I suppose.” Harry replied and oh, his voice. His voice was deep and slow, just like Louis wanted to take Harry.

And also how Louis was going to descend to hell. Deep and slow.

“You like Niall then?” Harry smirked and Louis gulped.

“Oh, he’s pretty but not my type. Too short.”

Harry’s smirk grew even more. “Is that so? I guess he is. So you like your boys tall, eh?”

That was flirting, Louis was sure of it. This was his zone, he could do _this_ at least. It was his time to shine.

“Yeah, real tall. Long legs and all that. I’m sure Niall is lovely, but he’s not my type.”

Harry took a gulp of his beer and licked his lips, which were like, fucking pink and that meant his head was proba—

“Yeah? Well, I could always introduce you to my friend Nick. He’s really tall, I bet you’d like him.”

Louis pulled a face, “ _Grimshaw_? I said I liked tall people, Harry, not fucking bean stalks.”

Harry cackled and threw his head backwards; Louis was almost sure it happened in slow motion but there was no way to prove it.

Louis smiled at him, this boy was incredible.

“So, um, Harry. Do you—Do you want to go dance?” he looked up to see Harry’s face. His eyes were bright, it was probably the alcohol, but still.

Harry smiled lazily, “I’m sorry Louis, I was here with Niall to tell him I was leaving. My mate Ed is picking me up in a few minutes so…”

Louis tried to hide the disappointment on his face. “Oh, it’s fine, really! I just liked this song.”

Harry nodded; he flipped his curls; Louis almost hated him for that.

The taller boy’s phone buzzed and Harry checked the message quickly. “Um, that’d be Ed, I shall be going then. It was nice meeting you, Louis.” he smiled.

“Yeah, you too! Oh, wait! Would you give me your number?”

Harry stopped and thought for a second, as if deciding if it would be a good idea. He sighed, “Listen Louis, you seem nice, honestly, but this is the fourth time tonight someone’s asked for my number and…I’m just not interested…in anyone. I’m not looking for anything.”

Fuck.

Well _, that was just dandy_ , he’d just embarrassed himself in front of the future father of his children. Ugh.

He needed to fix this and _quick_.

“Oh, no! Harry that wasn’t what I meant! I wasn’t looking for _anything_ , you just seem like a really nice lad. I just have a hunch that you and I would make really good friends that’s all. Sorry if it seemed like something else.”

Louis was so smooth.

Harry raised his eyebrows. “Oh, ok. Sorry then.”

“So…can I get your number, then?” he asked hopefully.

Harry still hesitated but this time he said, “Alright, why not?”

Louis grinned as Harry put his number in Louis’ phone. Step 1, completed.

“What did you say?”

“Oh, nothing, nothing.”

“Alright, well, see you, Louis.” And with that he walked towards the door.

Louis floated towards the couch Liam and Zayn had been sitting on, oblivious to the laughing Zayn and Niall and the smirking Liam.

“Oh, my god, Tommo! What _was_ that?”

“What was what?”

“The thing, the thing with Harry. What the bloody hell was that?” Zayn asked, arm draped over Niall.

“I-I don’t know. First we were flirting, next thing I know, he’s just leaving and at first he didn’t even want to give me his number when he correctly assumed I was wooing him.”

“ _Wooing_ him?” Liam asked.

“Well, it sounds better than ‘trying to get into his pants’, doesn’t it?” Louis scoffed.

Niall interrupted with confusion etched on his face, “Wait, what do you mean _at first_? He did give it to you later, then?”

“Well, yeah, but after I told him I just wanted to be his friend. Like, what?”

“Oh, mate, but it was obvious from here that you were flirting with him. He probably knew that was bullshit.”

“Yeah…he probably did…” Niall muttered to himself.

“What’s wrong Niall?” Liam asked and the three boys all looked at Niall. “Listen, Louis, I’m just trying to warn you here. Harry doesn’t do boyfriends. Or hookups with anyone who runs in his circle of friends. Or anything, alright? He barely does flirting. He doesn’t really believe in relationships, so don’t…get your hopes up. Don’t. It would only be trouble.”

Louis looked at Niall’s concerned face and determinedly said, “Niall, I really like him. Can I at least try?”

The blond boy sighed, “I can’t stop you or anything, but, listen, Harry has never had a boyfriend before, and he doesn’t want one. It’s against his rules or summat.”

Louis grinned. “It’s ok, Niall. I’m always breaking rules.”

+

“Liam, I am so sorry!” Louis plopped himself on the small sofa in the middle of their living room. It was old and it was ugly but it was theirs and theirs alone.

Liam looked up from the comic book he was reading, “Sorry about what? Did you try to make those chocolate pancakes again? Because I swear Louis, that last—”

“No, Liam, no! Now, while I’m certainly offended by your unnecessary comment about my cooking, I’m here to apologize.” Louis interrupted taking the comic book from Liam’s hands in order to garner his complete attention.

“Hey, I was reading that!”

“Liam, I’m deeply sorry for mocking you and taunting you all this time about pining after Zayn! There, I said it!”

Liam scrunched up his eyebrows, “What?”

“I get it now. Now that I’ve met Harry, I know how you feel. How can I be interested in anyone else when the light of my life, the fire of my loins, is out there, probably roaming the streets of Manchester in sinfully tight jeans, a low v neck shirt, and wild, wild curls dancing freely with the wind? How can I?”

“Oh, god,” Liam muttered under his breath and then, louder, “Louis, you do know that you only talked to Harry for, like, under ten minutes, right?”

The shorter boy sighed, “I know, Liam. But, God, I swear he’s so beautiful. How can he exist? I know I sound dramatic, but I’m being sort of serious.”

“Remember what Niall said, Lou. He’s going to be really hard to get. What if he’s mean or something? What if you don’t really like him? Would you go through all that trouble for him?”

It had been two days since the party and Louis was _still_ talking about Harry. If Liam recalled correctly, Louis hadn’t been this intense with anyone since _Greg_ , and look how that had turned out.

“I know Liam. That’s why I have a plan.” Liam raised his eyebrows.

“You will invite Niall to our weekly pool game on Friday. I’ll invite Harry. Perfect plan. Then I’ll find out if he’s a psychopath or something.”

“And what if he is?”

“What? A psychopath? Probably still date him.” Louis laughed as he stood up.

“This is exactly why your relationships go wrong, Lou.”

“Ouch. You should really stop hanging out with Zayn so much.”

“Arsehole.”

“Remember to text Niall!”

+

The next morning Louis found himself scanning through his school’s hallway. The corridor was full of students trying to either get to class or stalling, and Louis was starting to get exasperated as there was no mop of chocolate curls to be seen anywhere.

He had never seen Harry at school, which was a bit weird seeing as Louis had an awesome eye when it came to pretty boys, but then supposed it made sense since Harry was a year younger and his classes were in a complete different building. _Still_ , how could none of their mutual friends had thought of introducing them earlier? They were perfect for each other!

It was getting late and Louis was about to give up on finding Harry that morning when he felt warm breath behind his neck.

“Hello.” the voice breathed and Louis whimpered and his trousers got tighter. Harry.

Louis turned around and found himself face to face (well, not really because, as mentioned before, Harry was taller, so… face to chin, or something) with Harry Styles, his new crush. Under the bright light of the hallway he looked even better, his curls were, once again, tousled in all directions. He was wearing jeans and a band t-shirt and Louis was still sure he looked better than 100% of the people attending school. It was rather unfair.

“Oh! Hey there Harry, fancy seeing you here!” he laughed as his hand crept up to Harry’s shoulder.

Harry smiled brightly, “Hi! Thought I recognized you from behind.”

 Louis raised an eyebrow.

Harry continued, “And, well, yeah…I study here. But what are _you_ doing here anyway, Louis?”

Louis almost blushed. _Almost_.

“I was—Ms. Blunt sent me here to do some errands, I was just leaving actually.” he lied.

“Oh, that’s good I suppose. Well, I have maths right now so I’ll leave you to it.” Harry replied as he made his way towards his classroom.

No, no, he couldn’t let Harry get away, he was on a mission. “Wait, Harry!”

“Yeah?”

“Did, um, did Niall say anything about Friday night?” he was good at improvising, drama student and all that.

“Uh, no, I don’t think so. Why? What is happening on Friday?”

“Hmm, I don’t know if I should tell you. Top secret, you know.” Louis winked and he wanted so much for Harry to ask him again.

“Alright then.” Harry simply laughed.

That little shit.

“We’re having a pool game, you should totally come!” he blurted it out before Harry could leave.

“Oh. Well, sounds fun. I’ll try to go I guess.”

“Yeah, just ask Niall for details and stuff. But don’t get your hopes up, I _always_ win.” Louis grinned and Harry returned it brighter and wider.

“Maybe I shouldn’t go then.”

“What? Are you afraid of losing, Styles?”

“I’m not afraid of _anything_ , Louis.” he smirked. The bell rang and before Louis could retort, Harry was running towards his classroom, leaving a laughing Louis behind.

+

Monday had gone in a whirl, still too hazed by his interaction with Harry for Louis to remember much of what had happened afterward.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday morning had all gone painfully slow, not only to Louis, who counted every hour and minute until the great moment, but to Liam and Zayn who had the horrible task to endure between Louis’ daily moans and whines about Harry. _That’s what friends are for_ had become a muttered mantra in their shared flat that week.

Louis’ friends still were somewhat doubting anything good would come out of his infatuation with the younger boy.  Yes, Louis was usually quick when it came to ‘love’ (even quicker when it came to lust), but this was ridiculous even for his standards. Although, while Zayn tried to ignore the issue at hand, Liam tried to be more helpful and had reassured every night for four days that ‘ _yes, Louis, you’re pretty, I’m sure harry thinks so_ _too_ ’ or ‘ _yes, you’re funny, harry will want to be your boyfriend_ ’.

Either way, the week had come and gone (rather slowly), and the three friends found themselves in _Hemming’s_ , their favorite bar which had a pool table.

While Liam was at the lone empty pool table practicing a few shots, which he needed because he sort of sucked, Louis and Zayn sat at one of the booths drinking each, a can of beer.

 _Why am I always drinking beer with Zayn on Friday nights? I ought to do something about that_ …Louis mused to himself only to be interrupted by Zayn.

“Lou?”

“Yes, darling Zayn?”

“You do know that if you succeed in your little creep mission of dating Harry, he’ll be your what? _Seventh_ boyfriend of the year?”

“Sixth. I’m not counting Derek, we lasted two days and we were drunk. Never happened, shut up.” Louis sniffed.

“Alright, alright. Still, that’s six boyfriends and we’re in October. How come you’re not thinking this through? You’re rushing, mate.”

“I know, but all of those were jerks! Harry…I think Harry is different.” Louis said dreamily.

Zayn pursed his lips, “Yeah, _he’s not looking for a relationship_ , you twat! Besides, you’ve talked to him twice, how do you know he’s any different?”

Just as Zayn finished talking, the doors to the bar opened and two raucous yells boomed throughout the room.

“I guess I’ll just find out.” and with one last gulp of beer, Louis was standing up and on his way to greet the two newcomers.

“Niall! Harry!” He exclaimed delightedly throwing himself at the object of his affections and hugged him tightly. Perhaps it lasted more than necessary and he deemed it long enough when Harry stiffened and Niall looked on amused. Ahem, right. Harry wasn’t his boyfriend yet, right.

He reluctantly let go of Harry and greeted Niall with even more enthusiasm.

“Niall, my friend! Here is a big hug for you too because that’s what I do with my friends! Hug tightly!”  Louis was almost sure he heard Liam snort.

After Harry and Niall grabbed a couple of beers for themselves, all five of them were around the pool table.  Louis was petulant to discover Harry had never played a game of pool before. He smirked at the curly haired boy who only raised an eyebrow.

At the end, they decided to split in two teams; Liam (who was a practiced player but mediocre at best), Harry (who Louis was sure would totally suck at the game—a hunch, really), and Zayn (who was almost as good at Louis) were one team, and Niall (who, according to him, was ‘decent’) and him made up the second team.  

They played for the good of forty minutes, Louis’ team was winning, but by that point Louis and Zayn were the only ones playing; Harry, Liam, and Niall were just cheering.  (And if when Harry let out a small ‘whoop’ when Louis scored a shot and the latter started grinning giddily then no one noticed—except everyone did).

They finished the first round (Louis won and Niall cheered) and Louis decided he pitied his useless friends and spoke, “Well, it was nice beating you once again, Zayn, but I’m tired so I’ll leave you mates to it.”

He saluted his way to the bar where he got a tequila shot. Liquid courage was the best.

Louis went back to their booth, and before he actually took a sip of his drink, he saw a lanky and very pretty figure drop in the seat in front of him.

“Oh, Harry, aren’t you guys playing anymore?”

Harry tsked, “I’m not, but Niall and Liam want to see if with their united forces they’ll be able to beat Zayn.”

“Luck with that.” Louis rolled his eyes.

Louis wasn’t sure if the alcohol in his system made Harry look prettier than he was, but decided that no, he really was that pretty, “So! Harry, tell me, what are you doing this weekend?”

The green eyed boy seemed content with the question and answered, “Well, I might go snorkeling with my friend Caroline tomorrow.”

Caroline? Who was…wait, _snorkeling_?

“ _Snorkeling_?” he, oh, so graciously, asked.

Harry laughed at his reaction and Louis didn’t know if to be offended or glad he made Harry laugh. “Yeah, it’d be my first time. ‘m really excited.”

“Aren’t you afraid? Like, what if a giant shark appears and eats you whole?”

“Snorkeling is usually just for small fish, Louis,” he preened, “but it’d be an awesome way to die, innit? Just imagine, ‘ _how’d he died, ma’am?’._ ‘ _Oh, he was eaten by a shark, I’m afraid’_. Priceless.”

Louis was almost sure Harry was, indeed, a psychopath. Still, a psychopath who was staring at Louis with very green eyes. It wasn’t _that_ bad, really.

After Louis mentioned that he would never go snorkeling because he’d probably drown by getting scared of the fish finding a way inside his swimming trunks, Harry bragged that snorkeling wasn’t near the craziest thing he’d ever done in the ocean. _I have gone scuba diving with actual whales_ , he had said. And Louis, astonished, had replied, once again, _weren’t you scared?_

_Nope._

After that, their talk had gone from that one time Harry had gone scuba diving, to everything he had ever done. Louis learned that Harry had also bungee jumped once before; had, along with Nick, helped the host of Radio 1 _host_ the morning show, had crashed John Travolta’s daughter’s wedding, had run naked through a couple of streets in London, been in prison for a whole night, kayaked without any prior knowledge in kayaking, and had rode an ostrich. Like, an actual ostrich.

Louis had told Harry that he had once attempted to cook an apple pie and almost burnt his house. The entire fire department in Doncaster knew his name. Really adventurous, you know?

To Louis’ surprise, Harry hadn’t looked at him with a bored expression, no, instead, he cackled and asked what his mother had said. In that moment, Louis _knew_ Harry was different.

When both boys looked up from each other, they noticed their other three friends weren’t playing anymore, instead, they were at the bar. All three of them were looking at them with amused glances. Zayn smirked, and Niall raised a questioning eyebrow.

They turned away from them and kept quiet for a few moments until Harry spoke up.

“Louis, hey, um, you do remember what I told you the other night, right?”

Louis deflated at the change of topic, “About relationships?”

“Yeah. I mean, it still stands.” Harry started playing with a napkin and Louis tried to look at anywhere but in front of him. “I’m saying this because, well, it may sound a bit conceived, but, I think you like me.”

Louis wasn’t sure what to do. There he was, Harry. Beautiful Harry actually questioning if Louis liked him. He decided to be bold and blunt. He was Louis Tomlinson after all, he wasn’t shy. Most of the time.

“I do, Harry. I do like you.” Harry looked up to see Louis staring at him, he opened his mouth to say something but Louis continued. “I _do_ like you, and more than a friend should, but I know what you said and I understand.”  True.

“You don’t want a relationship, and that’s your decision. But I truly want to be your friend.” Yes, friends, true. “I’m not pursuing a relationship here, just friendship.” Ok, _lie_ right about there. “…I hope that’s alright with you?” And yes, he was nervous.

This seemed to take Harry by surprise, “Oh. Yeah, that’s alright! I’m sorry. Wow, nobody has asked to just be friends with me.”

“It’s okay, Harry!” Louis crinkled his eyes. He had called him _Lou_! He was definitely getting somewhere.

Harry, once again, changed topics, “I think that one of these days we should go sky diving, don’t you think?”

Louis almost peed in his pants.

+

**from: Louis T :)**

_ok, if u don’t do boyfs nor 1 nite stands..are u really good friends with ur right hand or…?_

**_from: HARRY <3 <3 <3_ **

_never said I didn’t do hookups ;) x_

“He sent me a _kiss_ via text message, Liam! Oh, my god.”

Liam threw his pillow at Louis’ head. He just wanted to sleep.

+

“Say, Nick?”

“What Harold?” Nick replied as he looked up from his laptop for a second.

“What was the name of Greg’s last boyfriend?” Harry asked curiously.

“Uh, Tomlinson. Yeah, Louis. Why?”

“Oh, nothing, I recently met him…he’s cool.”

Nick eyed him and Harry squirmed. “Why are you asking me…?”

“No reason, I was just curious, can’t I be curious? Gosh, Grimshaw.”

“Perhaps, but…why are you asking?”

Harry glared at him but soon gave up, “He likes me.”

Nick _pffted_ and went back to his laptop. “That’s not news, everyone likes you. Except me cause I’ve got actual good taste. So, what? Did you gently blew him off? Wait, that sounded wrong… _Did_ you _blow_ him off?”

Harry rolled his eyes. “Mm, sort of, but not really. He’s my friend.” He pretended his nails were interesting.

“ _Sort of, but not really_?” Nick now stood up and hovered above his younger friend. “What is he? Your boyfriend or something?”

“What? No, don’t be ridiculous, he’s just my friend. Just a friend who happens to like me.”

Nick scrutinized him, but eventually sat down. “Just be careful, Harry.”

“Why?”

“Let’s just say Tomlinson doesn’t have the most impeccable reputation.”

“What do you mean?”

Nick sighed, “Let me put it simply: he’s had seven boyfriends. Just this year. He’s a really nice guy, very fun to be around but. Make your guesses.”

Harry visibly deflated,

 “Oh. Well, it doesn’t matter. _We’re just friends_ , that’s it.”

+

The Monday after what Louis had deemed `Louis’ and Harry’s First Date´ had actually being quite uneventful; Louis had not seen much of Harry, and they had encountered only once at the end of the school day, but couldn’t do more than say goodbye to each other because stupid beanstalk Grimshaw had taken Harry away faster than Louis could say `I do´.

That had been Monday, but Tuesday. Well, Tuesday had been a defining mile stone in their relationship—or so Louis told Liam that night.

Harry had surprised them all when he arrived at their table during lunch time, apple in hand, and sat like he owned the place.

“Hello.” he smiled.

“Hi, Harry.” Louis grinned back. Thankfully Liam and Zayn had more tact than their friend ever would.

“Harry…don’t you have class this hour?” asked Liam confused.

“Yeah, but it’s English so I’m not missing much.” Harry nonchalantly replied eyeing Liam’s banana.

“What if they find you here? You’ll get detention.” Zayn continued.

“It’s English, he’s not missing much.” Louis glared. Zayn didn’t stir.

“Yeah, it’s nothing, seriously. Hey are you eating that banana?” he asked Liam.

Zayn rolled his eyes and Liam sighed, “No, take it.” he handed the fruit to Harry who munched on it thankfully.

With a bite of his lip, Zayn handed his apple to Liam.

“Thank you,” smiled Liam at his friend, “here, you can have my pudding.”

Louis choked on his milkshake. Harry who had been oblivious to the interaction, eyed Louis carefully, “You alright, mate?”

Louis looked to his side, where Liam and Zayn where now animatedly talking about something probably uninteresting to Louis; possibly about superheroes.

“Uh, yeah. Come help me throw my trash in the bin.” he said a bit forcefully.

“Oh, no thanks, I’m fine.” the younger boy replied.

“ _Harry_.”

Harry laughed, but this time he followed Louis as he stood up, Zayn and Liam didn’t even notice.

When they were out of earshot, Harry asked, “What was that all about?”

Louis sighed, “Liam likes Zayn, and I’m almost pretty sure Zayn likes him back. Wanted to give them some romantic time alone.”

“Aw, how sweet.”

“Be quiet, Styles.” Louis nudged him, and hey, this was nice. They walked out of the cafeteria towards the school’s courtyard, it was less crowded. “So, why did you not go to English class?”

Harry shrugged, “I know that stuff, didn’t really want to go in. Then I remembered this was your lunch hour so I knew you’d be here to entertain me.”

“Oh! Am I your clown now?” Louis crossed his arms in mock indignation.

“No, but I hear you’re quite the singer…sing something.”

“Who even said that? No way in hell, Harry, no.”

“Oh, c’mon, Lou!” he pouted, “I’ll sing too if that makes you feel better.”

“That doesn’t help, you’ll just embarrass me” a horrified Louis said.

 “Oh _, really_?” Harry smirked, “Have I ever told you how much I like the Spice Girls?”

Louis covered his face with his hands as he mumbled, “God, don’t do it Harry. Seriously.”

Harry laughed before stopping on his tracks and cupping his hands around his mouth.

“ _Tell me what you want, what you really, really want!”_

A few people around them turned around at the sudden burst from the boy, some kept looking curiously.

“Sing with me, Louis, they’re watching.” Harry whispered and the continued, “ _I’ll tell you what I want, what I really, really want. I wanna, I wanna_!”

The boy started moving his hips and doing rap movements with his hands, and that’s when Louis started laughing until his face went red.  Harry grinned when he saw his friend but didn’t stop singing. “ _If_ _you want to be my lover, you gotta get with my frieeends_!”

Now there was a small group of people watching them not from very far away; some were looking incredulously at the pair, scared but curious, others were laughing at the display.

“Sing with me, Louis! _Tell me what you want, what you really, really want!_ ”

Louis shrugged with a smile. Stupid Harry. “ _I’ll tell you what I want, what I really, really want!”_

As Harry’s smile widened considerably and his face went red from laughing too hard, Louis realized two things. The first one was that Josh from his Maths class was really good at beatboxing.

The second was that well, Louis really did like Harry’s green eyes, and his dimples and his stupid curls, but he was starting to like Harry, the dork, the awkward boy younger than him who was afraid of nothing. And Louis was _falling_ for him. Hard.

+

It had been a month since Louis first laid eyes on Harry Styles and, once again, he found himself at a party. This time, however, was much, much better partly because Harry had come to the party _with_ him.

Well, _and_ Liam _and_ Zayn _and_ Niall, but the intention was same.

That was definitely good, Louis and Harry had grown closer to each other, so close that it would be unusual if Harry and him didn’t _at least_ text a couple of times each day.

Louis didn’t know if his plan was working or not—the one where Harry falls in love with him—but it was a fact that now Louis was one of his best mates. _Patience, Louis_ , he’d often tell himself.

Either way, Louis was now the one with Harry at the party; he could feel the stares from everyone (or at least from a couple of blokes and quite a few girls) and Louis felt _pretty_ good.

“What are you smiling about, Lou?” Harry smiled as he eyed Louis with a funny frown on his face.

“Nothing, just remembered something.” Louis forced himself to turn away from the girl who was so obviously undressing Harry with her eyes. Louis moved to the right a bit, conveniently blocking the girl’s view.

“Are you gonna dance?” Harry asked leaving his drink on the nearby table.

“Um, no. Suit yourself curly, I’m gonna look for Zayn.” Louis smiled tightly; he really, really wanted to go dance with Harry—well, not exactly go dance with him, but someone had to keep at bay all those lustful people away from young Harry, right? But he figured he couldn’t be with Harry the whole night long, he wasn’t _that_ clingy.

“Alright. See you in a bit.” Harry smiled and danced his way towards the crowd and Louis smiled fondly at him.

His fond was interrupted by someone’s hip bumping into his. He looked to the side; there was a neck. He looked up. He looked up-per.

“Grimshaw.” he said dryly.

“Tomlinson.” Nick smirked at him.

Louis sighed not so outwardly. “What can I do for you?”

“A lot of things, actually, and in various positions too, but not right now. Right now we should dance.” he smiled cheekily at him. His cheeky smile wasn’t anywhere near as pretty and charming as Harry’s.

“Is there a particular reason you actually think I’m going to say yes?” he answered back raising an eyebrow.

Nick pinched his cheek a bit too hard. “Always the charmer, Louis. Actually, I’m here to talk to you.”

“Hm. Yes?”

Nick  glared with more force than necessary, “A little bird told me you like him.”

Louis grimaced, “Does this little bird happen to have curly hair?”

“Yes, indeed, very curly.”

“Alright, so?”

“What are you planning Tomlinson?”

“Fuck you, I just like him that’s all. Besides, it’s none of your business.”

Nick eyed him carefully, “It is. I’m one of his best friends, and he’s actually a sweet lad unlike many of us.”

Louis tried to ignore Nick, but the annoying prat wouldn’t move and something in the back of his mind was nagging him. “I’m not planning anything, Nick.” he sighed, “I honest to god like him. Like, boyfriend shit and all that.”

“Is the Tommo actually looking for a _relationship_?” Nick said it dramatically, like he quite couldn’t believe it, but mostly to annoy Louis.

Louis indignantly scoffed, “I’ve been in relationships before.”

“Too many relationships, and that’s where I’m getting at. I know your record, Louis, I’m making sure you’re just not playing with Harry.”

“ _Playing_ with Harry? Grimshaw, I’m sure you know Harry’s whole I-don’t-believe-in-love thing he’s got going. I wouldn’t be here if all I wanted from Harry was a one night stand, too much work!”

“So you really are trying, eh?”

Louis sighed, “He already knows and he still talks to me so I don’t have much to lose, do I?”

Nick kept looking at him, “That’s the thing that keeps me wondering.”

“Which part?”

“He knows you like him and he’s still keeping you around, like, all the time.”

Louis pouted, “You’re making me sound like I’m a homeless dog.” Nick shrugged, but then his body relaxed and his face seemed to soften, he turned around and eyed the crowd, his finally settling on a dancing Harry.

“It’s kind of ironic, no? The insatiable Tommo falls for someone. The only boy in school who doesn’t believe in love.”

“You should know, huh?” Louis replied back, also looking at Harry. Nick hummed in agreement.

“How’s Greg?”

“Dunno, don’t really talk to him now.” Nick mumbled.

Louis nodded.

“Just don’t you dare hurt him.” Nick said and with that he left, leaving a quiet Louis behind.

Louis shook his head, Nicholas Grimshaw was a weird one.

He then went to look for Niall (he didn’t want to disrupt any moments Zayn and Liam were sure to be having) to see if the boy was up for a dance or anything, really, but then he found him in the middle of a girl with pink highlights and a short boy with chestnut hair. Well, he certainly didn’t want to interrupt _that._

When he went back, he noticed Harry was already there. With someone. A short blond boy who was possibly in Louis’ year.

He glided himself next to Harry, and, although he did stop himself from putting a possessive arm around his friend, he did make sure to glare at the stranger with a very tight smile.

“Oh, hey, Lou!” Harry preened and hugged Louis. He was a bit drunk. “Look, this is Rick. Rick this is Lou, he’s my friend.”

“I’m his friend.” Louis kept his cheerful charade. He wasn’t jealous per se, but honestly, who was this Rick guy and why was he here, damn it?

Rick nodded at him, and turned again to face Harry.

Louis wrinkled his nose and frowned. Wow, how rude.

Harry and Rick kept talking and talking. At first, Louis had been trying to force himself into the conversation but Prick Rick was having none of it. Either way, Louis stayed by Harry’s side even if he was being _completely_ ignored, he wasn’t going to give Rick the satisfaction.

It sort of felt like a tennis match, a match Harry, who was still buzzy from beer, was completely oblivious to. Louis nuzzled Harry’s shoulder; he smirked and Rick glared. Rick told a joke and Harry laughed especially loud; Rick smiled proudly and Louis scoffed.

It was tedious and Louis just wanted to punch Dick Rick in the face, but he was sure Harry wouldn’t appreciate that. Just as he was finally about to leave, as he didn’t want to be seen like the clingy girlfriend (although, he couldn’t be the clingy girlfriend mainly because he wasn’t Harry’s girlfriend…boyfriend), he saw Rick rubbing Harry’s arm and distinctly heard the arsehole say, “Hey, how about we go to my flat? It’d be quiet in there.”

Louis was seeing red, he knew Rick had spoken too loudly on purpose. Before he could do something—he didn’t know what, but he had to do something— to stop Harry from agreeing, his friend smiled and stepped back.

“Sorry, mate, Louis’ taking me home in a bit.”

Louis, who had been throwing daggers at Rick, had snapped his head back to look at Harry incredulously. Rick scoffed and walked away with a muttered ‘whatever’, but Harry just looked back at Louis with a drunken grin on his face.

“Ready to go home, Lou?”

Louis smiled softly at him, “Yeah, yeah, let’s go.”

They made their way outside of the house, quickly saying goodbye to Liam and Zayn (Niall was nowhere to be seen, and Louis didn’t want to think about where he was) and hopped on Louis’ small car.

Their way to Harry’s house had kept Louis in stitches, Harry was still lightly drunk from all the drinks he had taken, and had sung all of Celine Dion’s greatest hits in a horrible off-pitch falsetto.

“Yeah, you’ll have to work on that.” Louis laughed, and, while Harry kept himself busy waving at the occasional person on the street, Louis still couldn’t help but feel giddy about the fact that Harry had rejected Rick in favor of staying with Louis. He wasn’t imagining it, he and Harry were becoming really close. He looked to face the curly haired boy, Harry seemed to feel the stare and quickly looked back. Louis felt as he had been just caught looking at him, but Harry just smiled and Louis smiled back. There might have been butterflies involved.

They were soon in front Harry’s house, the street was dark, and all the lights from the houses were off.

“Alright, here we are Harold. Your house.”

“Yes.” Harry drummed his fingers on his lap, looking at the car’s roof.

“Well…goodnight.” Louis replied, unsure as to what else to do.

“Thank you.” Harry replied, now looking at him with a smile.

“No problem, I never get to use my own car anyway since I always drive with Liam all the time.” he easily replied.

“No, not that. About Rick. I didn’t want to be there alone with him.”

Louis scrunched his eyebrows in confusion, “Really? I thought you were flirting with him.”

“Ew, no. Wait…you thought I was flirting with him, but you still stood there like a protective dad or something?”

Louis blushed and prayed to the gods that it’d be too dark for Harry to see him. He hadn’t known Harry had noticed.

“Uh, I needed to check if he was bad news, you know, protect little Hazza’s virtue.”

“Uhuh, sure, Louis.” Harry smirked as he unbuckled his seatbelt. “God, I think I’m drunk. Well, see you, Lou.”

Louis chuckled as he started the car again, but before he could glance back at the road, Harry mumbled, “Hey, Tomlinson?”

Louis turned around absent mindedly and quickly felt warm lips pressed to his. It was the quickest kiss Louis had ever had (counting all those dares with _girls_ ), but it was still, easily, the best he had ever had.  Before he could ask what or why, Harry stepped out the car, and closed the door with a slam. As he walked towards his driveway Harry waved, “Goodbye, Louis!”

Louis, still stunned, almost as if he were in automatic, started the engine and started his way towards his flat. All the way there, he rewinded the last moment he had been with Harry. But, yeah he kissed Louis! Kissed him. Why would he do that? As far as he was concerned, Louis still hadn’t completed his wooing plan; it didn’t make sense.

Perhaps, Harry was way too drunk.

Louis wanted nothing more in the world than for Harry to reciprocate his feelings, but he wanted to do this _right_. He wouldn’t remind Harry of their drunken kiss, he knew Harry wouldn’t mention it, if he even remembered.

Harry was just drunk, yeah that was it, _just a drunken kiss_.

On the other side of the city, Harry Styles kept repeating that to himself, he was drunk, that had to be it, it was just a drunken kiss.

He almost believed it.

+

It had been about a week since the drunken kiss accident. Neither Louis nor Harry mentioned it. The first couple of days had that strange residual awkwardness, but it soon dissipated in place of the easiness that was their relationship. Louis reasoned Harry was ashamed of the kiss, or maybe he even didn’t remember or he had imagined it all, besides, that kiss would ruin his plans, so he was _not_ going to mention it.

Either way, the week had passed and it was another Saturday. This time Liam, Zayn, Louis, Niall, and Harry found themselves together again, but now in a much calmer and quieter place.

“So, what movie are we watching?” Niall yelled from where he was sprawled in the sofa. Well, kind of quiet.

“I already said what I want to watch.” Harry pouted as he made himself comfortable on the same sofa.

The five boys had decided to spend their Saturday night watching movies at Niall’s flat. Because they were cool and all that.

“We are not watching some stupid romance flick, Harry!” Niall replied rolling his eyes.

“Why not?” Zayn added with a frown.

“Watching romance movies with five other blokes is fucking gay, man.” Louis replied from where he sat barefoot on many pillows and blankets.

“You _are_ gay. At least 2/5ths of us are completely gay! The other half minus Niall is bi. I think that’s good enough excuse.” Zayn whined. What? He was a romantic at heart.

“Taking it up the ass is less gayer than that.”

“We are not watching romance movies, Zayn.” Liam glowered. Louis kind of knew why.

“How about a zombie apocalypse movie?” Said Niall instead.

“Yes! Zombies!” Louis cheered while Harry and Zayn frowned.

“This is a democracy and we won.” Niall shrugged as he went to look through the movie catalogue.

“This is shit, I know how you get with scary movies Niall.”

“And how’s that?” Liam asked.

“He starts crying when the scenes get too intense.” Harry laughed.

“It was _one_ time, Styles!”

The rest of the boys laughed, and while Niall was getting ready the movie, Harry and Liam went to the kitchen and grabbed almost everything that was there. When they came back everyone was already in their place getting comfy. Niall was on the big couch covered by a blanket and Harry took place next to him, Louis was on the floor covered by pillows and resting his head by Harry’s legs. Meanwhile Zayn and Liam took up the other couch, a bit too close, but no one mentioned it.

Harry suddenly felt acutely aware of Louis. He felt his soft hair rubbing his knee, and he wanted to run his fingers through it. It wasn’t weird right? It was really soft looking.

So he did exactly that. As soon as his fingers touched Louis’ hair he kind of regretted it. One, because Louis turned around and gave him a surprised look, but either way let him. Second, because his hair was the softest thing ever and Harry didn’t want to let go.

The movie started and Harry tried to focus on it. It wasn’t hard, even when Louis rested his head on his legs. It was nice, to be with these four boys, Harry exhaled and turned his head back to the screen where the first zombie was eating a girl.

Soon all the boys were too engrossed by the movie. It was a killing spree, where the zombies were morbidly killing one by one all the protagonists in the movie. Zayn was stone cold white, trying not to tremble whenever there was blood on the screen; Liam hid his face on Zayn’s shoulder, but couldn’t quite look away from the movie. Louis was loudly yelling and once in a while throwing popcorn at the screen in fear. And Niall, well, Niall was crying. “Please stop it, guys, I don’t want to watch—no! Why did they kill _her_? She was the smartest one!”

Harry was sniggering at his friends. Served them right for not wanting to watch what he wanted. The rest of the movie was spent about the same, with crying, yelling, whimpering, and an amused Harry. By the time the movie was over, the boys were emotionally drained and decided that their movie ‘marathon’ was over.

Liam moved to the floor next to Louis and fell asleep quickly. Zayn stayed on the sofa, while Niall excused himself to his own room. Harry sprawled his numb legs on the sofa too and within a minute, everyone was fast asleep. Everyone but Louis.

There were many things going through his head. One was that he really liked Harry Styles and there he was, sleeping just mere feet away from him. But that was an ever present thought.

The second one was that zombies could get into Niall’s flat in any moment. Those two thoughts kept him awake for at least a good whole hour. And just when he was finally drifting off to sleep, he  heard rustling next to him. Someone stood up, it was Zayn. Louis didn’t turn around nor made a sign he was awake. Zayn walked towards the kitchen and just when he was about to shrug it off, Liam stood up too and walked where Zayn was.

Louis stayed silent, trying to decipher what the whispered conversation was about, but the voices were muffled and he really felt like a creep.

“What do you think that is all about?” Louis heard a low whisper next to him. A dark silhouette sat next to him.

“I don’t know, I can’t hear them.”

“Do you reckon they’re making out?” Harry asked.

“I don’t think so…I can hear voices.”

“Hm, a shame.” Harry continued, “You were really scared during the movie.”

“Well, yeah, it was fucking scary. Couldn’t sleep.”

Harry chuckled and Louis stuck out his tongue, but was pretty sure Harry couldn’t see him.

“It’s so dark in here…I can’t see a thing.”

“I like the dark.”

“I bet you do.” Louis replied.

“You can do a lot of things in the dark. Reckless things.”

Louis’ heart was stopping.

“Yeah. When you’re drunk too.”

There was a moment of silence, enough for Louis to know Harry knew what he was talking about.

“Listen, Lou, I am—” Harry started, but was interrupted by the kitchen’s door violently opening. Out the door came out a furious Zayn who didn’t acknowledge the other two wide eyed boys. Liam came out soon after, also looking agitated, but not nearly as angry as Zayn, more like worried.

“What’s wrong?” Louis asked his friend.

“ _Nothing_ is wrong, Louis.” replied Zayn, grabbing his shoes, not even putting them on, and leaving the flat. “Nothing!” he yelled from the hallway.

Liam stood there with a defeated look on his face. Oh, no.

“Did you tell—”

“No.” Liam said.

“Then what happened?”

“I’m a coward that’s what happened.” Liam said as he sat on the sofa and rubbed his face with his hands.

“What do you mean?”

Liam sighed, “I think he k-knows that I like him—”

“More like love him.” interferes Louis and Harry punches him lightly on the shoulder and motions for Liam to continue.

“Whatever. Thing is, he knows, and I think he wanted me to tell him. At least he hinted it.”

“Did you?”

“No.”

“Why not, Liam?”

“Because, what if he’s just playing with me? What if he’s going to make fun of me? I can’t deal with his rejection, there’s no way.”

Louis rolled his eyes. “Liam, babe, Zayn would never do that. You know that.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Maybe you just gotta be…less afraid.” Harry added carefully.

Louis wanted to punch Harry.

“Or _maybe_ Zayn needs to stop being a fucking douchebag and kiss you already.” Louis glared as he hugged his best friend and patted his hair.

At least he made Liam laugh. Harry sighed as he patted the spot next to him. “C’mon, Liam, we’ll cuddle you while you fall asleep.”

“We will.” Louis smiled and his friend laid in between them.

“Thanks guys. I love you.”

“Love you.” Harry and Louis said in unison.

If Louis blushed then no one saw. He smiled as he cuddled next to Liam.

At least he now felt safer with Liam and Harry by his side. No zombies would eat him that night.

+

And then Thursday came.

To be honest, he didn’t think any of it. To Louis it was just another day of school, nothing weird or out of the ordinary was expected. All he planned to do was attend his classes, doze off, have lunch with his friends, go home, watch tv, and go to sleep.

Except some green eyed boy fucked it all up.

He was sitting in between Liam and Zayn, trying to hold two different conversations with each of them (since Saturday’s incident had caused both boys to blatantly ignore each other) when Harry came, once again, to their table in all of his leggy glory.

“I’m starting to think you don’t really care much about school, Curly. Are you planning on us to keep you out of the streets?” was all Louis replied to, focusing on his vanilla pudding instead of on the younger boy in front of him who apparently didn’t know how to button up his plaid shirts.

“Oops, you caught me!” Harry grinned as he sat in front of the three boys.

“Skipping class again?” Zayn asked.

Harry waved him off, “The usual. Actually, I came here with a purpose. Louis.”

“Yeah?” Louis lifted his eyes to meet Harry’s gaze.

“You mentioned liking Black Calendar, right?” he questioned, stealing Louis’ pudding to which he only half heartedly pouted.

“Yes, what happened?”

“They’re having a gig tonight. Something small at a bar. I have two tickets…do you want to go? With me?” Harry asked. There was hesitance in his voice, and Louis didn’t need to be told twice to agree.

“Sure! Tonight? When? Where?”

“Like, at nine. You can go right? It’s a school night after all.”

Louis rolled his eyes, “Now you’re just being silly.”

“Alright, I’ll pick you up around eight thirty, I’ll text you.” Harry laughed as he stood up with pudding in hand. “Ok, better get back to class, I wasn’t actually skipping, just restroom break.”

“My pudding!” Louis whined.

“Goodbye boys!” Harry walked out of the cafeteria.

There was a moment of silence before Liam asked, “Did Harry just ask you out on a date?”

 “I think so.” replied Zayn, for a moment forgetting he didn’t want to talk to Liam.

“Do you reckon?” Louis asked wide eyed.

“Yeah…”

+

“You did _what_?”

“Calm down Nick, it’s not that big of a deal?”

“Not that big of a deal, Harold? Fuck you, you know Black Calendar is my favorite band ever!”

“It’s not your favorite band ever, you got into them, like, last month.”

“Still. If you do not have ulterior motives of why you invited Tomlinson over me, I’m judging you.”

Harry chuckled but went back to his phone where he was probably tweeting lyrical non sense or something, Nick guessed.

“ _Well_?” he repeated.

“Well what?”

“Well, do you have ulterior motives with Tomlinson? Preferably naughty motives?”

“What are you saying? No, I just wanted to invite him because he likes that band and he’s a good friend of mine. Jesus, Nick.”

“Liar. You like him.”

“Of course, he’s my friend.”

“You’re stupid Styles.”

Harry smiled sweetly at him.

“I know you like him as boyfriend material because I told you not to. And you always end up doing the opposite of what I tell you.”

“That’s not true. And I don’t like him. Really.”

“The first clue should’ve been when you listened to Wonderful by Annie Lennox for a whole week. It wounds me that I barely noticed this. Although I can’t say I didn’t see this coming.” Nick added with dramatic flair.

Harry stood quickly and abruptly, “I still don’t believe in relationships, dammit, you know that.” He made his way towards the door, a glare adorning his face.

“That doesn’t mean you can’t like him.” yelled Nick.

The door slammed shut.

+

Louis was not a girl with a crush. Louis was not a girl with a crush.

Louis was **not** a girl with a crush.

He wasn’t.

But he was going on a _date_ with _Harry Styles_.

So Louis had put on the tightest trousers he owned and his favorite band t shirt that showed off his awesome collarbones and Louis felt pretty. He was still nervous, but he felt on the very marrow of his bones that this would go amazing. They would have a great time and then they would snog and Harry would finally realize he’d been in love with Harry all this time. Yup.

Louis didn’t even care that Liam and Zayn had been making fun of him all day (those little fuckers could never leave Louis alone, even if they were in a shitty mood) he was so going to make this work.

When 8:30 finally came, Louis tried to collect himself; he could do this, he was _Louis Tomlinson_. He could get anyone who he wanted. Anyone.

And then Harry came and he almost had an aneurism.

“Hey, Lou.” he grinned as he leaned on the doorframe, looking so effortlessly cool Louis knew he was doing it on purpose.

Oh, well, two could play that game.

“Hey, Haz,” he smirked as he grabbed his coat, “c’mon, let’s get there early, I’m dying to see them.” Louis sashayed, not giving Harry a second glance.

Harry laughed as he ran his fingers through his hair; he wasn’t nervous, there was no reason to be nervous, this wasn’t a date, contrary to what Nick said.

“Where’s the ride, Styles?”

Harry snorted, “There’s no ride, the bar’s a few streets away, we’ll walk.”

“Oh, you really know how to swoon a boy.” he joked as both of them made their way towards the bar.

The air was cold but nice, and Louis and Harry soon engaged in conversation, their hands softly grazing once in a while.

“You know what I remembered this afternoon? You promised we would go skydiving sometime, Lou.”

“Bloody hell, Harry, I never said anything remotely like that.”

“Well we should.”

“Never in a fucking million years.”

“You say that now.” Harry sing sang.

“I’m not throwing myself off from an airplane, that’s insane, _you’re_ insane.”

“Just a bit, but you are too, you know. That’s why we’re friends!” Harry winked making Louis roll his eyes fondly.

They soon arrived at the bar where music could already be heard from the outside.

“Why is there music? Have they started yet?” Louis asked as they gave their passes to a bouncer.

“It’s still ten minutes till it’s supposed to start.” Harry eyed his watch.

“They’re on stage already, Harry!” Louis pointed when they got full view of the small improvised stage, “Black Calendar is playing!”

Harry scrunched up his eyebrows and pouted, “We’re late? I though it started at 9:30…”

Louis nudged his shoulder, “Doesn’t matter, Haz, we’re here already and Black Calendar is playing live, let’s go get a drink and then go closer to the stage.”

Harry smiled and went after Louis, it was silly how good Louis made him feel—and whoa, stop right there Styles. Louis was a nice _friend._

Once they settled with their drinks in hand and near the stage, the boys listened to the live music and not long after, started playing footsie with each other. They gathered a few looks, but Harry and Louis were too engrossed with each other to actually notice.

A couple of songs after they had sat down, the singer announced they had one last song to play which made Harry scoff and Louis laugh at him.

But before he could say anything, Harry noticed the drummer wink in his direction. He was winking at Louis. _At Louis_.

Louis pretended not to notice, but Harry could see the hint of a smug look on his face; and yeah, that was not happening, he needed to act quick.

“Hey, do you want to try my drink?” he asked Louis.

“What is it?”

“It’s a ginger…shandie?”

“A ginger shandie? In a _bar_? What are you, Harry Styles?”

“A Harry. C’mon try it, it’s good.”

“Bleh, alright, just a tiny sip.”

Louis went to grab the tall glass on his own, but Harry beat him to it and slowly guided the glass towards Louis’ mouth. The older boy laughed but took the sip. Harry thought Louis was lovely.

He glanced back at the forgotten drummer, just in time to see him roll his eyes and continue playing. Harry tried to keep all the way on the back of his mind what he just did and what it meant.

“It’s not bad.”

“It’s not not bad, it’s _amazing_.”

“ _My_ beer is amazing.”

“That’s piss water.”

“Take that back you filthy bugger.” Harry laughed so hard he snorted out his drink, making Louis giggle and pinch Harry’s arm.

“My shirt, you ass!”

The band ended their performance and most of the other patrons dispersed.

“We should get out of here.” Louis said.

“It’s still really early, do you want to go somewhere else?”

“There’s a park nearby, we can go there and tell each other ghost stories.”

“C’mon Louis, we both know you’ll get scared.”

“You’re such a knob.”

“You love me either way.”

Louis didn’t reply.

+

The walk to the park was even nicer, Harry had taken Louis hand into his and hadn’t let go.

Louis knew about boys, he’d dated a lot of them in the past, but he had never met anyone like Harry before. He was funny, kind, and awkward, a fact which Louis found surprisingly adorable and attractive. And the thing was, Louis knew Harry liked him back, and if Harry wouldn’t act on it, then Louis would.

“Let’s lay on the grass, wanna see the stars, yeah?” he asked as soon as they got to the abandoned park. 

Harry smiled and nodded with bright excited eyes and Louis was just a little bit more in love.

“Wanna listen to music?” the curly haired boy asked as he took his iPod out of his pocket and gave one of the earbuds to Louis.

Louis smiled at the soft melodies of Phoenix.

“I haven’t done this in a long time.”

“What? Watched the stars?”

“Yeah, since I was a kid, I suppose.”

“You’re still a kid, Haz.”

Harry laughed but didn’t reply as he fixed his gaze towards the sky.

Nine Inch Nails was next.

“Are you serious?” snorted Louis.

“We don’t all listen to Lady Gaga on infinite loop hole, Lou.”

“You’re harassing me!”

“ _Harassing_ you? I’ll show you harassment!” Harry laughed as he toppled over Louis tickling him and fuck, fuck, Harry was tickling him. Harry was tickling him as they laid on the grass and it really couldn’t get more cliché, could it? Louis was fine with that.

“You little fucker.” Louis tried to squirm away from the taller boy, but Harry had a firm grip on him. In a moment of weakness Harry had let go of Louis’ waist and he took advantage of it by trying to stand up; Harry was quicker than him though, and, as he took a hold of Louis by his waist, both of them fell to the grass again.

Both of them were red from the face and it isn’t until their breathing evens out that Louis notices Harry is still grabbing him by the waist, his other hand on Louis’ chest.  And then the song changes.

 _Every now and then the stars align._  
Boy and girl meet by the great design,   
could it be we are the lucky ones?

The song played amongst their breathing and the silence, and Harry has suddenly stopped any movement.

 _Everybody told me love was blind_  
Then I saw your face and you blew my mind  
Finally you and me are the lucky ones, this time

And it’s shit. It’s shit because if this were a scene from a movie Louis and Harry would be kissing right now. But they’re not, instead, Harry removes his hands from Louis’ body, recoiling almost as if in fear.

Harry stands up and dusts off his pants looking at anything but Louis, “We should—we should go, it’s getting late and tomorrow—”

And Louis was done with this, he didn’t understand; Harry was beautiful in all ways he could think of and he wanted to _know_. He wanted to know why Harry was like this, why he wouldn’t let anyone anywhere near his heart. “I can’t believe it. _Why_ , Harry?”

“Why what?” he asked with wide innocent eyes, and if Louis hadn’t just spent the last few months with him, he would’ve believed him.

“Why do you do this? I _know_ you like me, why are you closing off?” he pleaded.

“Louis we talked about this already, I don’t—”

“Yeah, you don’t fucking date, I know. But don’t tell me this wasn’t a date, Harry. It was. I know I’m not imagining things, you like me. I’m not…”

“Does it matter if I do like you?!” Harry suddenly bursts, “It doesn’t make a difference! As much as I like you, it won’t change a thing.”

“What are you talking about, it does change a thing!”

“No, you’re wrong. As much as I like you, it won’t amount to anything, Louis. We date, alright, and then what? We’re going to break up eventually. Something’s going to happen, I’ll move away or you’ll get tired of me or something, relationships _never_ last.”

“How can you say that? People get married all the time!”

“Yeah, and then they get divorced!”

“Some get to grow old together, isn’t that worth something?” Louis asked deflated.

Harry gave a self deprecating and bitter laugh, “That will never happen to me, chances are slim to none. Just understand this Louis.”

“We can try! What is there to lose? We’re young, we’re supposed to be doing this!”

“Heartbreak. I don’t do heartbreak.”

“Harry, you can’t afford to think like that, it will eat you away, I can’t let you do this.”

“Oh, so I’m just supposed to give myself to you? To just be another one of your boyfriends? So you can dump me in two months at the most?”

As soon as the words came out of his mouth and a look of hurt was shown across Louis’ face, Harry regretted it, but it was out there already.

Louis shoved his hands into the pockets of his trousers. _Fine_.

“You know what, Harry? When I first met you, I thought you were this amazingly fearless boy. I thought you weren’t afraid of anything and that’s one of the reasons I liked you. And yeah, you have swam with fucking jellyfishes, eaten lava or some shit, and gone to limbo and came back, and I will never do half the things you’ve done, but I’m not afraid of loving someone and letting them love me back.”

“You’re not an almighty god, and what does everything you’re not afraid of doing amount to if you don’t want to be happy? You are afraid, Harry and I’m…I may hate scary movies, or the dark, or heights or almost everything that you do, but I’m not afraid of the important things. I’m not afraid of loving you.” Louis slowly finished, his eyes were downcast and his throat was beginning to dry. If Harry didn’t want this, he wouldn’t force him into anything, but he had to be heard.

“Goodnight, Harry.” Louis walked off.

Louis walked off and left a stunned Harry. A scared Harry, a sad Harry, and most of all, a heartbroken Harry.

The night air was cold, and the trail of tears along Harry’s cheeks did nothing to help him warm up.

+

“Rise and shine, Louis!” Liam opened the room’s curtains to let the scorching sun rays through and kill Louis.

Louis felt dramatic.

“Leave me alone, Payne. Go away and never come back.”

Liam sighed; he knew something had happened last night with Louis and Harry. Something not good, and he needed to help his friend, even if he himself wasn’t in the best conditions on the heart department. When did they become hormonal women?

“Louis, it’s a school day, you have to wake up.” he tried again.

“No, we’re not doing anything today.” Louis replied, still trying to suffocate himself with a pillow.

“You have to go.”

“You’re not my mother, I won’t go.”

“Stop acting like a child, Louis.”

Louis removed the pillow from his face and sat himself right on the bed. He looked worse than Liam had ever seen him (counting that time where he, Zayn, and Louis had gotten chicken pox at the same time), his hair was disheveled and going in all directions, his eyes were red and puffy, and his face was pale, it was obvious he hadn’t gotten much sleep that night.

“Liam, _please_ , just today. I swear it will just be today.”

Liam sat on the bed.

“Please?”

“You can’t hide forever, Lou.” he softly said.

“I know…just today.”

Liam nodded and hugged his friend, “Ok, but tomorrow you’ll go back.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Do you want me to stay here with you?” he asked.

“No, Li, go to school, I’ll probably just sleep all day.”

Liam nodded, fixed Louis’ pillow and swiftly left his friend’s room. Part of him wanted Louis to tell him to stay with him, if only because he’d have to face Zayn alone. Ever since the movie incident Liam and Zayn had effectively avoided each other, a feat that was nor easy nor small as not only they went to the same school, but shared the same best friend, and _flat_.

He hadn’t really seen much of Zayn except for lunch time, and that was only because he knew Louis was forcing them both to eat with him. But now Louis wasn’t going to be there and Liam could only grimace as he stared at Zayn’s empty chair in their dining room. He had already left.

+

Harry was awoken by the sound of a new text message.

**from: grimmy**

_hey Harold tell me everything about last night, i need to kno asap. get your ass down here._

The message only brought bad memories to Harry, not that he could’ve forgotten; he’d gotten around less than two hours of sleep as he had spent almost all night thinking of what he had said to Louis.

He was sorry for saying all of those things, he was, but he still meant it. Not the bit about Louis dumping him after two months, he hated himself as he remembered the look of hurt across Louis face, but he did mean what he said about relationships. Still, Harry knew one thing, he did like Louis (maybe even more than liked) and that fucking terrified him to no end.

Shaking those thoughts from his head, Harry grunted and stood up from his bed. There was going to be a long day ahead of him.

His morning routine went by in a blur, he didn’t talk to anyone, not his mum nor his sister; he ignored the worried looks from both of them and he munched on his breakfast without really tasting anything, he was numb and he hated it.

He arrived at school and didn’t even bother going to the courtyard even though he had at least 20 minutes before the bell rang. He sat on his usual desk from Maths class, and noticed there was no one but Oxford, a boy with whatsoever no friends at all, there. Harry wondered if he was going to end up like him, friendless and with sad, sad eyes.

Twenty minutes passed agonizingly slow, especially when all he did was scribble down Louis _Tomlinson_ a couple of hundred times.

Even Oxford seemed more cheerful than Harry that morning.

And that’s how pretty much the rest of his classes went by, Harry not paying attention and thinking about a certain blue eyed boy. If he had been paying more attention, he’d even notice the worried glances from his classmates at the glumness of the usually cheeky boy.

It wasn’t until the upperclassmen’s lunch time that Harry had had enough and decided to (once again) skip his English class in favor of going to the cafeteria, this time he’d gotten Niall to skip with him.

All he wanted was to be sad and cry and eat ice cream and, most of all, be with Louis. But he didn’t have nor ice cream, nor Louis, so he would settle with school cafeteria pudding and Niall. They saw Liam sitting and reading a comic book in a booth alone so Niall dragged them both towards him even though Harry voiced that he didn’t feel like being with anyone, but Niall was a persuasive person if anything. If Liam knew what had happened last night, he would judge Harry, no doubt about that.

As they neared Liam’s booth, Harry noticed the slight darkness under Liam’s eyes; apparently him and Louis weren’t the only ones having trouble. It didn’t make him feel better.

He waved at Liam and gave him a shy smile as him and Niall sat, but Niall went the whole way and embraced him. He felt lucky having Niall there because neither Liam nor Harry were going to make much talk.

Harry was content with just moving his food around and let Niall do all the cheerful talk, Liam was the same, but he occupied himself looking at Harry.

He sat there, still in silence, watching Harry mope. Why was he doing this to himself? Didn’t he want to be happy? Louis made him happy and that was that; he lifted his gaze across the cafeteria and saw a glum Zayn doodling on his notebook, suddenly, Liam was mad.

He stood up, gaze hard.

“Liam? Are you ok?” Niall asked.

“No, I’m not fine. You know why? Because Zayn’s mad at me, and we’re both idiots. And there’s not a reason why we should be like this.” he replied looking at Harry right in the eye.

“Liam…”

“Listen to me Harry. You’re miserable, don’t tell me you aren’t. You’re miserable and moping and I can tell you right now Louis is too. But you can fix this, I know you’re scared, but that’s something everyone goes through. _I’m_ scared too, Harry, I’m so freaking scared Zayn doesn’t feel the same way about me or that we’ll ruin our friendship. But I think I’m even more scared of losing him like this. Sometimes you just have to gamble a bit.”

“That’s so deep, Li.” Niall grinned.

Liam evened his breath and bashfully nodded. His words resonated through Harry’s head, but before he could say anything, the other boy sprinted to the opposite side of the cafeteria.

Liam ran towards Zayn. The other boy hadn’t noticed yet, still too engrossed in whatever he was drawing, but as Liam got closer to the boy, he got more nervous. No, he could do this. He could.

When he got there, he took a deep breath, “Zayn.”

Zayn lifted his eyes, and Liam couldn’t help but notice his Adam’s apple moved up and down. God, this boy was so beautiful and amazing and Liam was missing him.

“Zayn,” he started again, “I’ve been an idiot. You’re my best friend, I should’ve told you since the beginning.”

Zayn raised his eyebrows questioning, even thought Liam knew Zayn was just being a dick.

“You’re such a dick, Zayn Malik!” Liam grimaced, but Zayn laughed.

A sigh. “Damn it. I’m in love with you. I’ve been in love with you since Louis introduced us, and I hate him for that, but, yeah…I love you Zayn.”

And even though Liam had managed to gather all the courage he had in him and had reassured himself everything would turn out fine, he still waited for the blow to come. The look of pity from Zayn, a mean laugh and a roll of eyes, anything. But it didn’t come.

Zayn smiled sweetly at him, his eyes shining. “I’ve been waiting for you to say that for a long time, idiot.”

Liam choked. “You have?”

Zayn nodded, “Were you _scared_? Because I think I’ve been pretty obvious, Li.”

“No you haven’t. And why didn’t _you_ tell me?”

“Tell you what?”

“That you love me—” Liam’s eyes widened and he covered his mouth, “Shit, you actually haven’t said that, oh my god, I’m so sorry Zayn. Oh, I probably sound like an obsessive boyfriend or— not that we’re boyfriends or anything, fuck, I’m just gonna…”

Zayn grinned, his eyes becoming tiny slits and his tongue poking out of his mouth. He resembled a kitten and Liam was so, so embarrassed.

“You’re so cute.” Zayn took a step forward.

“And you look like a kitten.”

Zayn laughed and then he kissed Liam. It took a moment, but then Liam finally ( _finally_ ) kissed Zayn back.

It was wonderful and it happened in less than five minutes and Harry, wide eyed, watched it all from where he was sitting.

+

Louis had spent most of his day in bed, he had watched a couple of movies that were on the telly, he’d eaten a lot, and he had also curse Harry Styles a whole lot. And to be honest, it wasn’t really that much different from any weekend except this time he did all that with a broken heart.

After Liam and Zayn arrived after school holding hands, Louis only raised his eyes in question, very much knowing the answer already. He tried to be happy for them, and he did, because his two best friends deserved it so much, so he had spent about two hours eating Chinese food and annoying them in the best way he knew how: sex jokes about the two of them. It was glorious and served as an amazing distraction from Harry. Until Zayn told him to fuck off, that is; he supposed Zayn was right and he was being an awfully annoying third wheel, so he had gone to his room and checked his twitter account and informed his 20k followers how sad he still was.

It hadn’t really helped.

Everything still reminded him of Harry and it fucking sucked. So Louis decided the best option for him was to go to sleep at 8 o’clock.

He had actually fallen asleep, which was probably due to the fact he had gotten little to no sleep the night before.

But life had always been a bit mean to Louis (it was probably because he wasn’t meant to be born this beautiful but he had anyway) and, as he was finally sound asleep, there was a small _thump, thump_ , coming from his window.

He stirred.

 _Thump, thump_.

“I don’t want to hear your stupid music, Zayn, leave.” he mumbled sleepily against his pillow, drool coming from his mouth.

_Thump, thump!_

_“_ Fuck you, man, I said fucking leave.”he mumbled again.

“Are you still mad at me, Louis?” he heard a familiar voice yell from outside. He opened his eyes in a bam. He shuddered. This wasn’t some fucked up dream his brain was tricking him with, right?

“Louis!” Harry yelled. “Tomlinson, it’s cold outside, please!”

Louis grunted, still convinced this was a dream, but stood up walked towards his window.

As he peeked his head outside, Louis realized it was indeed Harry Styles. This, and the cold air hitting his face, was what made him realize he really wasn’t dreaming.

“Harry?” he squinted his eyes.

“Hi, Louis.” he waved. Harry was bundled up in at least two coats, his face was pale, but his cheeks and nose were pink. He looked really lovely. Louis hated him.

“Did you just throw pebbles to my window?”

“I did.”

“Why?”

“Because I didn’t want to wake up everyone else?”

“I think you woke up the whole neighborhood when you yelled my name. What are you doing here?”

“I came to talk to you, Lou.”

“Talk then.” Louis dryly said looking down at the younger boy from his window.

“It is a bit cold, can I come inside?” Harry asked.

Harry was cute, but after what had happened yesterday, Louis was going to need more than cute.

“If you want to come inside, you can climb.”

“ _Climb_ up to your window?”

“Take it or leave it.”

“Al-alright.” Harry said as he made his determined way towards the wall, ready to climb what was necessary.

Louis’ eyes widened, “Harry, you can’t climb for shit! What are you doing?!”

Harry shrugged while he lifted a long and awkward leg over to a small rail. “You said to climb, if this is the only way to get up there, I’ll climb.”

“Harry!”

“ _Louis_.”

“You smart ass. Don’t climb, I’ll go open the freaking door, for god’s sake!”

Louis looked down to what he was wearing: a white v neck and blue flannel pajama bottoms. Not exactly couture but Harry didn’t deserve for Louis to get pretty for him. He took his time walking downstairs, although he did feel a bit bad for leaving Harry out there in the cold with his little pink nose. Whatever.

He did eventually get there though, and he opened the door wordlessly.

“Thanks, Lou.”

Louis nodded trying not jump Harry and hug him to death. It’d be ideal, hug Harry but kill him at the end.

Louis sighed, and, against his better judgment, pointed upstairs. “Whatever you gotta say you can say it in my room. C’mon.”

They walked to Louis’ room in silence and unbeknownst to each other, both boys were itching to touch the other.

Louis softly closed the door after them, not really knowing what Harry was doing there. Was he there to tell Louis they should stay friends either way? Because, even if it would hurt a lot, Louis would take it.

“So…”

“Um, Louis…”

“Just say it Harry. Make it quick, I’m sleepy.”

Harry looked down, “Oh, yes…I’m not here to apologize…”

Louis raised an eyebrow.

“I mean, yeah, I’ll apologize! But…I also want to explain.”

“Explain what?”

“Why I’m so scared of doing this…us.”

Louis sat on the edge of his bed and Harry followed him.

“When I was eight my parents got a divorce. I—I love my dad, still do, and I always asked why he didn’t live with us any longer. My mum tried to explain, but I was just a kid. All I got from it was that they no longer loved each other.”

“Harry…”

Harry shook his head, “Then she got a boyfriend about a year later. I can’t really remember him now, but I really liked him, he was fun and I sort of wanted to replace him as my dad, I was just little. They broke up eventually, I guess it was nothing serious. I never saw him again.”

“And then there was Robin. He loved me and loved him, he was amazing, not only to my mum but to me and my sister. He and my mum were going to get married even, but…they didn’t, and that was it. I guess. That was the worst to be honest.”

“And it just hurt to watch my mum so heart broken, it hurt too much. I promised myself I would wait for the right person. To not be with anyone but…then I turned fifteen and I met this boy…George. I was in love with him…or well, as in love as a fifteen year old can be with someone. He was my first boyfriend. And the only one, I haven’t mentioned him to anyone before. We lasted a bit under two months. He broke up with me because he realized he didn’t want a boyfriend so young as me.”

“It might seem stupid Louis, but that was the worse feeling I have ever felt. I guess I’m not fearless or invincible, because I’m scared shitless of relationships. Because I know chances are, they won’t last. Ask me to jump off a cliff, I’ll do it, but don’t ask me to be someone’s boyfriend.”

Louis’ heart dropped, and tears seemed to well up in his eyes.

“But…but Louis. You make me brave. And I’ve realized that…I think you’re worth all of my fears. I think a kiss from you or a hug or a cuddle would be worth all the heart breaks in the world. I—I love you. And yeah, I’m still afraid, but being brave is doing something when you’re scared and I’ll do it for you. And for me. If you want me back, if you can forgive all my stupid, then I’d like to try this with you.”

Harry finished locking his green eyes right with Louis’ own blue ones. Both of them were literally speechless.

But Louis smile grew with each passing second.

“Harry, there’s nothing to forgive. I’m sorry for your mum and your stupid boyfriend. And it’s not stupid, because it’s a real fear. I’ve gone through many break ups myself, and yeah, they’re the worst, but you get over them. And when you get over them, you barely remember the pain, I like to stick with the happy memories I made with my assholes of boyfriends. I think it’s worth it.” Louis smiled as he tugged at Harry’s arms. “And in the long run, you do find your true love, as cheesy as it sounds.”

Harry’s smile widened, and his eyes sparkled. This time there was no alcohol involved.

“Do you want to be my boyfriend, Louis?” he asked with a deeper voice than usual as his nose almost touched Louis’.

“Yeah, since like I thought your name was Niall.”

Harry’s laugh was cut short by a strong kiss and wandering hands.

+

“I don’t want to do this, Harry. Let me get down.”

“Louis calm down, we talked about this already, just breathe, everything will be fine.”

“I want to get down, Harry.”

“It’d be bit difficult, love. We’re thousands of meters up in the air.”

“Tell the pilot to fucking land right in this moment.”

“Nope.” Harry laughed.

“ _Harry_! Besides, I look awful with this suit.”

“You look lovely.”

“You’re the worst boyfriend ever.”

“You love me Louis Tomlinson.”

“I won’t be able to love you anymore if we die.”

The doors opened and a gush of air entered. Louis was about to cry.

A men signaled something to Harry, Louis wasn’t really paying attention. He was more preoccupied with thinking about a way to escape his imminent death. He always sort of knew he’s die with his bum below Harry’s dick. Just a hunch.

“ _One_.” Harry yelled with a huge grin on his face.

“ _Two_.”

“Harry, please, no!”

“I love you, Louis. _Three_!!!”

They jumped off.

And, huh, skydiving with Harry Styles was actually really, really fun.

+

the end.

**Author's Note:**

> 15k yay! hope you liked it as much as i loved writing it!
> 
> here's a link for you: http://8tracks.com/hazzalouis/he-s-not-afraid-a-larry-fanfic-mix
> 
> it's my fan mix for this story!
> 
> but you also have to listen to 'hold on when you get love and let go when you give it.' by stars
> 
> AND here's a nice link to a skydiving pic and we can just imagine louis and harry, yes?   
> http://tomlinsonandstyles.tumblr.com/image/60721350977
> 
> thanks for reading and feedback would be nice :)


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